Toward Spatial Humanities : Historical GIS and Spatial History PDF
Preview Toward Spatial Humanities : Historical GIS and Spatial History
Toward Spatial Humanities S H The Spatial Humanities David J. Bodenhamer, John Corrigan, and Trevor M. Harris, editors Geographies of the Holocaust, Edited by Anne Kelly Knowles, Tim Cole, and Alberto Giordano Locating the Moving Image: New Approaches to Film and Place, Edited by Julia Hallam and Les Roberts The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship, Edited by David J. Bodenhamer, John Corrigan, and Trevor M. Harris Troubled Geographies: A Spatial History of Religion and Society in Ireland, Ian N. Gregory, Niall A. Cunningham, C. D. Lloyd, Ian G. Shuttleworth, and Paul S. Ell TOWARD SPATIAL HUMANITIES Historical GIS and Spatial History Edited by Ian N. Gregory and Alistair Geddes Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis This book is a publication of ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri- Indiana University Press can National Standard for Information Office of Scholarly Publishing Sciences–Permanence of Paper for Printed Herman B Wells Library 350 Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA Manufactured in the United States of America iupress.indiana.edu Library of Congress Telephone 800-842-6796 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fax 812-855-7931 Toward spatial humanities : historical © 2014 by Indiana University Press GIS and spatial history / edited by Ian N. Gregory and Alistair Geddes. All rights reserved pages cm Includes bibliographical references and No part of this book may be reproduced index. or utilized in any form or by any means, ISBN 978-0-253-01180-0 (cloth : al- electronic or mechanical, including kaline paper) – ISBN 978-0-253-01186-2 photo copying and recording, or by any (paperback : alkaline paper) – ISBN information storage and retrieval system, 978-0-253-01190-9 (ebook) 1. Historiog- without permission in writing from the raphy – Methodology. 2. Geographic in- publisher. The Association of American formation systems. 3. History – Sources. University Presses’ Resolution on Permis- 4. Historical geography – Methodology. sions constitutes the only exception to 5. History – Data processing. I. Gregory, this prohibition. Ian N. II. Geddes, A. (Alistair) D16.T74 2014 910.285 – dc23 2013037075 1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 Contents Acknowledgments · vii Introduction: From Historical GIS to Spatial Humanities: Deepening Scholarship and Broadening Technology Ian N. Gregory and Alistair Geddes · ix Part 1. Deepening Scholarship: Developing Historiography through Spatial History · 1 1. Railways and Agriculture in France and Great Britain, 1850–1914 Robert M. Schwartz and Thomas Thevenin · 4 2. The Development, Persistence, and Change of Racial Segregation in U.S. Urban Areas, 1880–2010 · Andrew A. Beveridge · 35 3. Troubled Geographies: A Historical GIS of Religion, Society, and Conflict in Ireland since the Great Famine · Niall Cunningham · 62 Part 2. Broadening Technology: Applying GIS to New Sources and Disciplines · 89 4. Applying Historical GIS beyond the Academy: Four Use Cases for the Great Britain HGIS · Humphrey R. Southall · 92 5. The Politics of Territory in Song Dynasty China, 960–1276 ce Elijah Meeks and Ruth Mostern · 118 6. Mapping the City in Film · Julia Hallam and Les Roberts · 143 7. Conclusions: From Historical GIS to Spatial Humanities: Challenges and Opportunities · Ian N. Gregory and Alistair Geddes · 172 8. Further Reading: From Historical GIS to Spatial Humanities: An Evolving Literature · Ian N. Gregory · 186 Contributors · 203 Index · 207 Acknowledgments We express our sincere gratitude to all of the con- tributors for their efforts and speedy replies to our requests and queries. The work was strengthened as a result of detailed anonymous review, and we thank those involved in that process. The series editors – David Bodenhamer especially – gave sagacious advice, and we benefited from guidance of Darja Malcolm-Clarke, Dan Pyle, Robert Sloan, and Jenna Whittaker, all at Indiana University Press. We are also very grateful to Mary M. Hill for undertaking the copyediting. Others gave their support and kindness unstintingly: Alistair would particularly like to thank Jen and Robin Flowerdew. The groundwork for this book came as a result of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Seminar Series Grant, “The Historical GIS Research Network” (RES-451-25-4307). Its completion benefited from support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ ERC Grant “Spatial Humanities: Texts, GIS, Places” (agreement number 283850). vii Introduction: From Historical GIS to Spatial Humanities: Deepening Scholarship and Broadening Technology Ian N. Gregory and Alistair Geddes When Geographical Information Systems (GIS) first began to be used by academic geographers in the late 1980s, their use was nothing if not controversial. Proponents of the new field argued that it had the potential to reinvigorate geography as a discipline under a more computational paradigm.1 Opponents argued that it marked a lurch toward an unacceptable form of positivism with no epistemology or treatment of ethical or political issues.2 One thing on which they both agreed – or perhaps took for granted – was that GIS was a quantitative technology that was to be used in a social scientific manner (to its sup- porters) or a positivist way (to its antagonists). When GIS first began to be used by historians it was not surpris- ing that much of the early focus was also quantitative and social sci- ence based. It is no coincidence that the first special issue of a journal dedicated to historical GIS (HGIS), published in Social Science History, included essays on topics such as fertility, migration, urban history, and economic growth, all well suited to quantitative analysis.3 In 2008, eight years after this issue was published, a conference devoted to HGIS was held at the University of Essex.4 It attracted 125 delegates, with papers organized in 21 sessions. While some of these sessions were themed on topics that still had a strong quantitative bent – demography, urban his- tory, environmental history, transport, and so on – there was also an increasing number of papers and sessions that concentrated on topics that were clearly qualitative and did not follow traditional social science paradigms. These topics included art, performance culture, literature, the Bible, and medieval and early modern history. What was happening ix
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